Welcome all film buffs. Enjoy a vast list of both long and short reviews. All reviews posted by myself, Film Critic Jesse Burleson. Also on staff is my colleague and nephew, Film Critic Cole Pollyea. He also has his own blog titled, "ccconfilm.blogspot.com".
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Rating System: ****Stars: A Classic ***Stars: Good **Stars: Fair *Star: Poor No Stars: Terrible, a waste of time.

Covering about forty years in the life and times of ex-vice president Dick Cheney, Vice vies with the Bush administration's take in 2008's W. and gives it a little more pizzazz (ironic seeing that a certain controversial helmer directed W.). In veracity, I had been readily waiting to see Vice on a traditional Christmas Day. Safe to say I wasn't disappointed.

Released at 132 minutes with its narrator as veritable heart transplant donor and its end credits coming in rather prematurely (ha-ha we get it, slick Dick wasn't quite done with his anti-terrorize-r career yet), Vice gives Dick Cheney impressionist Christian Bale another chance to be his chameleon self. His method acting is in the stylings of Robert De Niro while his weight has fluctuated over the years like Oprah. With Vice, Christian becomes so unrecognizable and goes so far down the rabbit hole, you forget he's even in the darn flick. Put Bale's movie posters of 2004's The Machinist and TheFighter next to his yellowed poster for Vice. Come on, I dare you.

Anyway, Vice has out of the box film-making, an uber-skimmed narrative, and a need to sometimes feel like a political, bullet point presentation (don't worry, it's still all good). The pic also announces director Adam McKay as the hottest thing going in Hollywood. Heck, if you let him grab you by the lapels and sweep you into his radical vision (without conventional judgement), Adam's Vice might just "entice" you.

McKay as the brainy lovechild of early David O. Russell and 90's Oliver Stone, breaks a lot of cinematic rules here. He knows it. You know it. But hey, he doesn't really care. McKay infuses Vice with freeze frames, archive footage, reverie elements, bucked humor, and splashy editing. Granted, he sometimes wanes focus and skips the information superhighway (unlike in The Big Short) by showing more of the Chief of Staff positions Cheney held as opposed to what he actually did (this is only in the first hour or so). Still, Vice is commendable, outre oeuvre from Adam McKay. And it doesn't hurt that he gets great supporting work from Amy Adams, Tyler Perry, and Steve Carell (they play Lynne Cheney, Colin Powell, and Donald Rumsfeld respectively). Not as hate-filled or dour as some critics have rendered it to be, Vice might yield as one of this year's best. It gets a strong 3 star rating.

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Jesse Burleson

My name is Jesse Burleson and I have a love for film. I've been reviewing movies on and off since 2003 (my first writing gig was for my company newsletter) and it is my pleasure to share my views (good or bad) with you. My work is featured in this blog and ccconfilm.blogspot.com. I also have a vast amount of reviews posted in the audience sections of Rotten Tomatoes, the audience/critic sections of IMDb, and MovieSnackx.com. And in addition to having over 250 of them posted online, I am also featured on YouTube with a host of video chats of older and newer films as well.

I was born and grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan. Now I am based out of Chicago, Illinois. The first film I ever saw was Star Wars in 1977. I was only three and my father took me to a drive-in theater to see it. My favorite film of all time is Boogie Nights followed by Aliens, Apocalypse Now, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Pulp Fiction, Se7en, and The Shawshank Redemption. Thank you for viewing my site and feel free to comment on any of the reviews. My blog is viewed all over the world and I'm grateful to all of the readers who have made a visit. Thanks again and as always, happy movie going!